Millau: producer Julia Fangeaud presents “Resilient Man” at the Millau Cinemas

At the height of his glory, Steven McRae, a brilliant principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in London, injured his Achilles tendon and collapsed on stage. His career seems over. However, after two years of absence, accompanied by his coaches and the company’s medical team, he is following a special program to return to his highest level. Despite adversity, Steven McRae intends to return to the stage and dance the most prestigious roles in the repertoire again…

This is the true story that Julia Fangeaud produced with director Stéphane Carrel and whose documentary was released in cinemas on April 17. Holder of the baccalaureate at Jean-Vigo with the cinema option and passed through a specialized school in Paris, the young woman who has worked in audiovisual documentaries for 12 years will be present at the Millau cinema this Tuesday, May 7 to present “Resilient Man” during a screening for schools during the day as well as for the general public at 8 p.m., and to discuss with them.

What is the role of a producer?

You do a bit of everything, especially for documentaries where budgets are limited. But the main thing is to believe in the director’s idea to sell the project, to convince people and find funding in order to offer diversity, because it’s important. I remain convinced that this documentary is aimed at a wide audience. We work in tandem with the director, particularly when it comes to validating certain choices. And there is all the management of communication, partners, legal and distribution.

A director with whom you had to be patient until the theatrical release…

I worked on it for two and a half years, more than four years for Stéphane Carrel. We know each other well having worked together on the series Planet Chefs on Canal. He initiated this project and had contacted other producers but the health crisis happened. I arrived after signing a third production company. I found the dancer’s story very touching. It was necessary to raise funds from individuals in order to finance the filming before signing the big partners. Dancer Steven McRae has a big community behind him and that’s how we launched a crowdfunding campaign.

With the agreement of Steven McRae?

Yes, the director already knew him and he really wanted to tell his story to send a message: that the younger generations take care of their bodies and their minds. Injury among classical dancers is a taboo subject. This documentary is also a way to raise awareness among them, like high-level athletes more broadly. But the feedback we have already had is that everyone can recognize themselves through Steven McRae. It is a message of hope for coming back from an injury or a long illness.

You were a member of the jury at the 360 ​​Degrees of Adventure film festival in Millau in 2022, what relationship do you have with sport?

I don’t classify myself in the sports category. Above all, I look for human history and there, I saw several aspects with real potential. There is this artistic dimension with the very high level dance movements. And then there was the director’s desire to show the dancers as real athletes, which we tend to forget when we see them on stage.

Why this desire, from the start of the project, to schedule its screening in Millau?

Because it all started in Millau! I have a baccalaureate at Jean-Vigo with the cinema option and I remember my teachers and the cinema director at the time. I went to the cinema a lot, with a program of world films. It was important to me to come to bring the film and to be able to interact with the public.

You are also leading another project around the Legion on Larzac, where is it?

It’s a little longer than expected and I was detached from it even if I continue to follow the director who has just refocused her subject around the wives of soldiers who have to anchor themselves in the territory.